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Yalta Conference
The Yalta Conference, 1945
The Allied leaders came to Yalta knowing that an Allied victory in Europe was practically inevitable but less convinced that the Pacific war was nearing an end. Recognizing that a victory over Japan might require a protracted fight, the United States and Great Britain saw a major strategic advantage to Soviet participation in the Pacific theater. -
Berlin Declaration
Berlind Declaration
The declaration confirmed the continued existence of the German Reich as a whole, which would include its eastern territories as of 31 December 1937, and the division of Allied-occupied Germany into four occupation zones according to the Yalta Conference -
Potsdam Conference
Postdam Conference
The major issue at Potsdam was the question of how to handle Germany. At Yalta, the Soviets had pressed for heavy postwar reparations from Germany, half of which would go to the Soviet Union. While Roosevelt had acceded to such demands, Truman and his Secretary of State, James Byrnes, were determined to mitigate the treatment of Germany by allowing the occupying nations to exact reparations only from -
North Vietnam
Vietname independence Communist activist Ho Chi Minh secretly returns to Vietnam after 30 years in exile and organizes a nationalist organization known as the Viet Minh (Vietnam Independence League). After Japanese troops occupy Vietnam during World War II, the U.S. military intelligence agency Office of Strategic Services (OSS) allies with Ho Chi Minh and his Viet Minh guerrillas to harass Japanese troops in the jungles and to help rescue downed American pilots. -
Iron Curtain Speech
Iron Curtain Speech In one of the most famous orations of the Cold War period, former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill condemns the Soviet Union’s policies in Europe. President Harry Truman to make a speech. On March 5, 1946, at the request of Westminster College in the small Missouri town of Fulton. The term had actually been used for decades (including in several earlier letters from Churchill to Tru. -
First Indochina War
First Indochina War
The French had been in the area for centuries, yet policies changed when other Western European nations began to colonize and claim their own pieces of Asia. The French corrupted the Vietnamese sovereignty by colonizing and dividing the nation. It became known as a French “protectorate” from 1883-1939 and remained a colonial empire or “possession” until about 1945. -
Containment Policy
Containment Policy
A United States foreign policy doctrine adopted by the Harry S. Truman administration in 1947, operating on the principle that communist governments will eventually fall apart as long as they are prevented from expanding their influence. -
Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan, also known as the European Recovery Program, channeled over $13 billion to finance the economic recovery of Europe between 1948 and 1951. The Marshall Plan successfully sparked economic recovery, meeting its objective of ‘restoring the confidence of the European people in the economic future of their own countries and of Europe as a whole. -
Berlin Blockade
Berlin Blockade
The Berlin Blockade was an attempt in 1948 by the Soviet Union to limit the ability of France, Great Britain and the United States to travel to their sectors of Berlin, which lay within Russian-occupied East Germany. On June 7, the Western powers announced their intention to proceed with the creation of West Germany. The blockade had failed, and it reopened the borders. -
Berlin Airlift
The Berlin Airlift
Berlin, the German capital city, was located deep in the Soviet zone, but it was also divided into four sections. The Russians wanted Berlin all for themselves so they closed all highways, railroads and canals from western-occupied Germany into western-occupied Berlin. The effort, known as the “Berlin Airlift,” lasted for more than a year and carried more than 2.3 million tons of cargo into West Berlin. -
NATO
NATO
The plan of further Communist expansion made the United States and 11 other Western nations form the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The original membership of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) included Belgium, Britain, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and the United States. France opted to withdraw, didn't return until '95 -
Korean War- American Involvment
US Enters the Korean Conflict
Truman ordered U.S. troops to the aid of South Korea and convinced the United Nations to send military aid also. The Chinese army poured troops into the fight and forced the UN troops back into South Korea. The Korean War cost more than $50 billion and 33,000 U.S. lives, plus another 110,000 or so were injured. -
Julius and Ethel Rosenburg
[Julius and Ethel Rosenburg ](http:http://www.atomicarchive.com/Bios/Rosenberg.shtml)
They are a married couple. Julius was arrested in July 1950, and Ethel in August of that same year, on the charge of conspiracy to commit espionage. They were convicted on April 5, 1951 when a judge sentenced them to death. Many people believed that the Rosenbergs were the victims of a surge of hysterical anticommunist feeling in the United States, and protested that the death sentence was cruel. -
Eisenhower Presidency
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower led the massive invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe that began on D-Day (June 6, 1944). In 1952, leading Republicans convinced Eisenhower to run for president; he won a convincing victory and served two terms in the White House (1953-1961).He worked largely on his memoirs, and would publish several books over the following years. He died on March 28, 1969, after a long illness. -
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Khrushchev (1894-1971) led the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War, serving as premier from 1958 to 1964.He largely pursued a policy of peaceful coexistence with the West and he instigated the Cuban Missile Crisis by placing nuclear weapons 90 miles from Florida. Khrushchev wrote his memoirs and quietly lived out the remainder of his days before dying of a heart attack in September 1971. -
Iranian coup d' etat
Iranian coup d' 'etat
A fierce nationalist, Mosaddeq immediately began attacks on British oil companies operating in his country, calling for expropriation and nationalization of the oil fields. His actions brought him into conflict with the pro-Western elites of Iran and the Shah, Mohammed Reza Pahlevi. Mossadeq was arrested, served three years in prison, and died under house arrest in 1967. -
Warsaw Pact
Warsaw Pact
Warsaw Pact was a mutual defense organization that put the Soviets in command of the armed forces of the member states. The Warsaw Pact, was a treaty signed in Warsaw, which included the Soviet Union, Albania, Poland, Romania, Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Bulgaria as members.The Warsaw Pact remained intact until 1991. Throughout 1990 and 1991 marked an effective end of the power of -
Suez Crisis
Suez Crisis
The Israelis struck first, on October 26, 1956. Two days later, British and French military forces joined them. Originally, forces from the three countries were set to strike at once, but the British and French troops were delayed.In the aftermath of the Suez Crisis, Britain and France found their influence as world powers weakened. -
Hungarian Revolution
Hungarian Revolution
The problems in Hungary began in October 1956, when thousands of protesters took to the streets demanding a more democratic political system and freedom from Soviet oppression. In response, Communist Party officials appointed Imre Nagy, a former premier who had been dismissed from the party for his criticisms of Stalinist policies, as the new premier. -
Sputnik
Sputnik
The successful launch of the unmanned satellite Sputnik I by the Soviet Union in October 1957 shocks and frightens many Americans. Such a show of technological skill could only help the USSR in its efforts to achieve closer economic and political relations with third world nations in Africa and Asia. This resulted in the launching of the satellite Explorer I on January 31, 1958. -
Cuban Revolution
The Cuban Revolution
The Cuban Revolution was a civil war that took place in Cuba between December 2, 1956, and January 2, 1959. In this armed struggle, the guerrilla forces, led by Fidel Castro, fought against the government army, under Fulgencio Batista, a dictator who had got into power through a military coup in 1952. It lasted for about three years, and the battles took place in mountains & town -
U2 Incident
U2 Incident
The U-2 spy plane incident raised conflict between the U.S. and the Soviets during the Cold War (1945-91). The largely political clash between the two superpowers and their allies that emerged following World War II. The U-2 spy plane incident occurred at a crucial juncture in U.S.-Soviet relations. -
Kennedy Presidency
Kennedy Presidency
Kennedy was the 35th president of the U.S. John Fitzgerald Kennedy was killed by an assassin's bullets as his motorcade wound through Dallas, Texas. He led a renewed drive for public service and eventually provided federal support for the growing civil rights movement. Kennedy won reelection to the House of Representatives in 1948 and 1950; in 1952 ran successfully for the Senate. -
Bay of Pigs
Bay of Pigs
The first part of the plan was to destroy Castro’s tiny air force, making it impossible for his military to resist the invaders. "The Bay of Pigs invasion begins when a CIA-financed and -trained group of Cuban refugees lands in Cuba and attempts to topple the communist government of Fidel Castro." The attack was an apsolute failure and it costed the U.S. a lot of money. -
Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a fortified wall made up of concrete and barbed wire made to prevent East Germans escaping to West Berlin. It was one of the most visible signs of the Cold War and the Iron Curtain. A 12-foot-tall, 4-foot-wide mass of reinforced concrete was topped with an enormous pipe that made climbing over nearly impossible. -
JFK Assassination
JFK Assassination
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, is assassinated while traveling through Dallas, Texas, in an open-top convertible. Kennedy was pronounced dead 30 minutes later at Dallas’ Parkland Hospital. He was 46. -
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
It was enacted on August 10, 1964, and it was a joint resolution that the United States Congress passed on August 7, 1964, in response to the Gulf of Tonkin incident. The USS Maddox was conducting a DESOTO patrol in the waters of the Gulf of Tonkin on August 2, 1964, when it was attacked by three North Vietnamese Navy torpedo boats. -
Vietnam War-American Involvement
Vietnam War: U.S. Involvement
South Vietnam signed a military and economic aid treaty with the United States leading to the arrival (1961) of U.S. support troops and the formation (1962) of the U.S. Military Assistance Command. -
Prague Spring
Prague Spring
Dubcek’s effort to establish “communism with a human face” was celebrated across the country, and the brief period of freedom became known as the “Prague Spring.” Prague was not eager to give way, but scattered student resistance was no match for Soviet tanks. Dubcek’s reforms were repealed, and the leader himself was replaced with the staunchly pro-Soviet Gustav Husak, who re-established a communist regime -
Nixon Presidency
Nixon Presidency
Richard Nixon (1913-94), the 37th U.S. president, is best remembered as the only president ever to resign from office. Nixon stepped down in 1974, halfway through his second term, rather than face impeachment over his efforts to cover up illegal activities by members of his administration in the Watergate scandal -
Apollo 11
Apollo 11
The mission plan of Apollo 11 was to land two men on the lunar surface and return them safely to Earth. The launch took place at Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A on July 16, 1969, at 08:32 a.m. EST. The spaccraft carried a crew of three: Mission Commander Neil Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins, and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. The mission evaluation concluded that all mission tasks were completed. -
Detente
Detente
Détente was a French word meaning release from tension and is the name given to a period of improved relations between the United States and the Soviet Union that began tentatively in 1971 and took decisive form when President Richard M. Nixon visited the secretary-general of the Soviet Communist party, Leonid I. Brezhnev, in Moscow, May 1972. -
SALT I
SALT I
This treaty was signed by the United States and the USSR in May 1972. In the treaty, each nation agreed to reduce the number of nuclear missiles in its arsenal in exchange for the United States supplying the Soviets with much-needed grain over the next three years.Johnson’s successor, Richard Nixon, also believed in SALT, and on November 17, 1969, the formal SALT talks began in Helsinki, Finland. -
Fall of Saigon
Fall of Saigon
The fall of Saigon effectively marked the end of the Vietnam War. After the introduction of Vietnamisation by President Richard Nixon, US forces in South Vietnam had been constantly reduced leaving the military of South Vietnam to defend their country against the North. By 1975, what remained of the South Vietnamese Army was not capable of withstanding the advance of the North and it's a possibility that Saigon would fall -
Iranian Hostage Crisis
Iran Hostage Crisis
he immediate cause of this action was President Jimmy Carter’s decision to allow Iran’s deposed Shah, a pro-Western autocrat who had been expelled from his country some months before, to come to the United States for cancer treatment. They were not allowed to speak or read, and they were rarely permitted to change clothes. -
Reagan Presidency
Reagan Presidency
Ronald Reagan (1911-2004), a former actor and California governor, served as the 40th U.S. president from 1981 to 1989. Raised in small-town Illinois, he became a Hollywood actor in his 20s and later served as the Republican governor of California from 1967 to 1975. In November 1994, Reagan revealed in a handwritten letter to the American people that he had been recently diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. -
Tiananmen Square Massacre
Tiananmen Square Massacre
The Tiananmen Square massacre left an unknown number dead, with some estimates in the thousands, and smothered a democratic movement. one point had reportedly ballooned to a million people, were not the only pro-democracy protests in the country at the time. The military overwhelmed the civilians and began firing into crowds, but some protesters held fast, throwing rocks... -
Fall of the Berlin Wall
Fall of the Berlin Wall
More than 2 million people from East Berlin visited West Berlin that weekend to participate in a celebration. The reunification of East and West Germany was made official on October 3, 1990, almost one year after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Soon the wall was gone and Berlin was united for the first time since 1945. “Only today,” one Berliner painted on a piece of the wall, “is the war really over?" -
Dissolution of the Soviet Union
Dissolution of the Soviet Union
The once-mighty Soviet Union had fallen, largely due to the great number of radical reforms that Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev had implemented during his six years as the leader of the USSR. However, Gorbachev was disappointed in the dissolution of his nation and resigned from his job on December 25. It was a peaceful end to a long, terrifying and sometimes bloody in history. -
Tet Offensive
Tet Offensive
North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces launched the Tet Offensive coordinated series of fierce attacks on more than 100 cities and towns in South Vietnam. U.S. and South Vietnamese forces managed to hold off the Communist attacks, news coverage of the offensiveshocked and dismayed the American public and further eroded support for the war effort. Tet was the most important holiday on the Vietnamese calendar.
